[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 23 (Thursday, February 27, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   REINSTATEMENT OF OREGON LAW RELATING TO PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE

  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, there are developments in a matter that 
I think command our attention. I would like to bring them to the 
attention of the Senate.
  Recently, Senator Dorgan and I, joined by 28 of our colleagues, 
introduced S. 304, the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act. It is 
simply a law that says no Federal tax dollars shall be used to promote 
or pay for assisted suicide.
  There had been a threat that we might be asked to pay for assisted 
suicide with Federal Medicaid funds in the State of Oregon. Oregon 
enacted what was called Measure 16, which allowed for physician-
assisted suicide for terminally ill patients in that State. Oregon 
officials stated that they would be submitting Medicaid bills to the 
Federal Government to pay for assisted suicide under the category of 
``comfort care,'' a euphemism which is particularly troubling to me.
  After Oregon passed Measure 16, its implementation was suspended by 
U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan, in Eugene, OR. While the law was not 
in effect, we would not be asked to pay Federal dollars, tax dollars of 
American citizens, to end the lives of individuals rather than to 
sustain their lives.
  Throughout the history of the Medicaid and Medicare Programs, there 
has been the presumption that funds for those programs would be used to 
elevate, encourage, enrich and extend the lives of American citizens. 
It turns out now that with this one law in one State, we will be asked 
for Federal resources for medical reimbursements under the health care 
provided by Oregon's Medicaid program, to end the lives of individuals, 
to help physicians help patients commit suicide.
  Senator Dorgan and I, and 28 of our colleagues, have sponsored 
legislation to prevent such a practice--to prohibit Federal tax dollars 
from being expended for assisted suicide. Our legislation had an 
imperative quality because the decision of an appeals court was 
pending. But today the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the 
action which had suspended the implementation of the Oregon law. The 
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in so doing, potentially clears the way 
for the State of Oregon to begin calling upon the resources of U.S. 
taxpayers to assist people in their suicides.
  I have to tell you, this is against the values of many of the people 
with whom I speak and many of those I represent in the State of 
Missouri. Key groups and organizations, including the U.S. Catholic 
Bishops, the National Right to Life, and the American Medical 
Association, oppose assisted suicide, and oppose the use of Federal 
funds for such a practice, as it is an inappropriate expenditure of tax 
dollars.
  Mr. President, 87 percent of the American public does not want tax 
dollars spent on dispensing toxic drugs to end the lives of Americans 
instead of focusing our resources on therapeutic drugs and other 
therapies to extend and improve the life of American citizens. It is 
time for us to understand the urgency of this issue, given the fact the 
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the challenge to Measure 16.
  Now, the dismissal of the action is appealable by the parties there. 
They can appeal back to the Ninth Circuit for a hearing en banc, or to 
the U.S. Supreme Court. But I raise this in the consciousness of the 
U.S. Senate to say we do not have a significant amount of time, and I 
believe the vast majority of citizens in this country never anticipated 
that their tax resources would be consumed in poisoning fellow citizens 
under the guise of comfort care in the State of Oregon.
  We would be derelict in our duty were we to ignore this problem and 
allow a few officials in one State to decide that taxpayers all across 
America must help subsidize a practice that has never been authorized 
in most of America, is considered to be morally abhorrent by many 
Americans, and is considered to be medically inappropriate by the 
American Medical Association. Because of today's decision, I implore my 
colleagues in the U.S. Senate to act swiftly to pass the Assisted 
Suicide Funding Restriction Act before our tax dollars begin to go for 
ending, and not saving, the lives of our fellow Americans.
  I yield the floor.

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